The much-awaited auction of the Indian Premier League 2021 is all set to be held in Chennai. The 8 franchises will be looking to fill the gaps in their arsenal as 292 players, including 164 Indian, 125 overseas and 3 Associate go under the hammer at:

IPL 2021 Auction Date: February 18, 2021
IPL 2021 Auction Venue: ITC hotel in Chennai
IPL 2021 Live Streaming Channel: Star Sports Network at 15:00 PM IST

Just like the previous season, the total budget of the teams will be 85 crores. IPL 2020 concluded in early November and teams have had less time to reflect on their strategy and hence instead of a mega auction which was supposed to be held this year, the organisers have gone ahead with a ‘mini’ auction. 

Among the released players, there are several high-profile players who have set their base price at 2 crores, which includes a couple of veteran Indian players, Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav. While among the overseas players, Glenn Maxwell, Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali and Steve Smith among many others are also listed at the highest base price. 

Here is a glance through what the 8 IPL teams have done leading up to the auction, and what we can expect from them in Chennai on Thursday:

Mumbai Indians

Retained Players: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohsin Khan

IPL 2020 Rank: Champions

Purse Remaining:  15.35 cr 

Slots Remaining: Indian- 3, Overseas- 4

The defending champions have pretty much a well-settled squad but they do need a second overseas pacer, which will be their top target. The 5-time champions released Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Mitchell McClenaghan and with Lasith Malinga hanging up his boots, Trent Boult is the only foreign pacer in the ranks. 

Other than that, MI have their playing XI covered. They don't have any major concerns but might go for a backup all-rounder. 

Delhi Capitals

Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes

IPL 2020 Rank: 2 (Runners-up)

Purse Remaining: INR 13.4 crores

Slots Remaining: Overall- 5, Overseas- 3

The Delhi capitals haven't really tinkered ahead of the upcoming auction. The runners-up of the previous season have released Alex Carey, Sandeep Lamichhane, and traded out Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

The franchise will be sceptical about the participation of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje for the entirety of the tournament and hence they will be aiming to get a back-up overseas pacer as well as a keeper having released Alex Carey. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Retained Players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Md. Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Phillipe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson

IPL 2020 Rank: 4

Traded Players: Harshal Patel, Daniel Sams

Purse Remaining: INR 35.40 cr

Slots Remaining: Overall- 11, Overseas- 3

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players and will be revamping their squad ahead of the 2021 IPL. They have roped in Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams as they needed to strengthen the two areas, all-rounders and overseas pacers. They will be aiming to get another top-quality death bowler and also a middle-order power-hitter to take the burden off De Villiers’ shoulders. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Retained Players: David Warner, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad

IPL 2020 Rank: 3

Purse Remaining: INR 10.75 cr 

Slots Remaining: 3, Overseas- 1

SRH already have a 22-man squad and they don't have many slots to fill as well. Again, they will be aiming to get a death bowler as they weren’t impressive in that phase and will be looking to get a pacer. 

Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained Players: Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert

IPL 2020 Rank: 5

Purse Remaining: INR 10.75 cr

Slots Remaining: 8, Overseas- 2

The Kolkata Knight Riders have the smallest purse available along with the Sunrisers Hyderabad but unlike the Orange Army, KKR have a few slots and areas where they need to strengthen their squad ahead of the upcoming edition. The team needs an opening batsman and their eyes will be someone who can accelerate in the powerplay with Shubman Gill playing the anchor’s role at the other end.

Punjab Kings

Retained Players: KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohd. Shami, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh

IPL 2020 Rank: 6

Purse Remaining: 53.20 cr 

Slots Remaining: 9, Overseas- 5

One team which has a chance to assemble the best squad at the end of the player auction is Punjab. The Kings already have a settled core with the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Gayle, Pooran, Shami, Bishnoi in the ranks and with the highest purse of 53 crores, they might get their hands on few of the big players. 

They need a strong underbelly having released Maxwell and might go for Shakib who provides an all-round alternative. The team might take a chance to bring in Moeen Ali as well as home boy Harbhajan Singh. 

Chennai Super Kings

Retained Players: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore

IPL 2020 Rank: 7

Traded players: Robin Uthappa

Purse Remaining: 19.90 cr 

Slots Remaining: 6, Overseas- 1

The 3-time champions have released some of their key players from the successful seasons of 2018 and 2019. Chawla, Harbhajan, Jadhav, Watson were the players released as the team will be looking to fill in the overseas spot with an all-rounder like Shakib, Moeen Ali or Glenn Maxwell as they provide a spin bowling option as well. 

Rajasthan Royals

Retained Players: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Andrew Tye

IPL 2020 Rank: 8

Purse Remaining: 37.85 cr

Slots Remaining: 9, Overseas- 3

Rajasthan Royals made arguably the best decision when players were released as Steve Smith was let into the auction. It allowed the inaugural champions to free up their purse and allow a player which is better suited to the format. They can go after an Indian middle-order option as that will allow them to play another overseas player.